Posted: 13th Dec, 2011 By: MarkJ
Broadcom, a semiconductor developer for wired and wireless communications (i.e. Broadcom chips can be found in a lot of broadband ISP routers), has revealed at an event in
San Francisco that the next generation of
IEEE approved wireless ( Wi-Fi ) networking technology,
802.11ac, should make it into the first commercial products by the end of 2012.
The new 802.11ac standard is special for a number of reasons, although its ability to deliver speeds of "
approaching"
1Gbps (Gigabits per second) over the clearer
5GHz spectrum band (i.e. less interference to deal with) is undoubtedly one of its most important features.
Existing
802.11n (N Spec) Wi-Fi kit runs via
20/40MHz channels, while the new standard will be able to use
40/80MHz (effectively doubling the capacity).
MU-MIMO (Multi-User MIMO) is then used to transmit multiple spatial streams where each spatial stream can be directed to a different station, which improves the efficiency and throughput.
The technology is needed because some fixed line fibre optic ( FTTH ) based broadband ISP connections are already able to deliver speeds of 1Gbps, which is of little use if your home wireless network can't cope. Some UK ISPs have already had to deal with unfair complaints from customers whom buy a superfast broadband connection but fail to understand when the speed via their slower Wi-Fi link doesn't match.
Earlier this year
In-Stat predicted (
here) that
802.11ac-enabled devices will go from ZERO in 2011 to nearly
1 Billion by 2015. The
WiFi Alliance, a non-profit international association formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) products, expects to ratify the new standard by mid-2012.
It should be noted that 802.11ac is designed to complement the short-range
Wireless Gigabit Alliance™ (WiGig) technology (
details), which uses unlicensed
60GHz spectrum to deliver Wi-Fi speeds of up to
7Gbps! The first WiGig compatible Wi-Fi products are "
scheduled" to launch within the same timeframe as 802.11ac.